Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 year banking career, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, and other major industry publications. The American Bankers Association (ABA) published Barnewall’s Profitable Private Banking: the Complete Blueprint, in 1987. She taught private banking at Colorado University for the ABA and trained private bankers in Singapore.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

BANKSTERS, PRANKSTERS AND SANDY HELL HOLES

By Marilyn M. BarnewallMay 22, 2011NewsWithViews.com

As I write this, Saturday, May 21, 2011, it is Armed Forces Day… a day too many people who say they appreciate our military all too often forget. This isn't the topic of my article, but it raises an interesting question, asked below.

The following paragraphs came from Lt. Col. (Ret.) Bob McConnell, the guy who should be my Congressman and who publishes a newsletter with information you can trust. Both Col. McConnell and I spoke at the Pueblo (CO) Liberty Action Tea Party group on May 12th.

"Today is Armed Forces day," Col. McConnell's newsletter told me. "President Truman created the holiday in 1950. It marked the conclusion of one of the hardest battles of his presidency. The deeply entrenched and proudly separate War Department and Navy Department had been combined into one Department of Defense. This is a classic story of how the feds solve a problem. Post-war hearings in Congress were chaired by none other than Senator Lyndon Johnson. Great military leaders including Ike, Nimitz, Halsey, and Bradley testified that the Army and the Navy needed to learn to talk to each other so there would be no more Pearl Harbors. The goal was to train and fight as one team. Pressure, compromise and intrigue were all part of the deal. It included the mysterious death (a theme which continues in DC until the present day) of the first Secretary of Defense, the former Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal. Was Forrestal's death suicide, or not?"

An interesting question: After you read the material below, is America in its currently dysfunctional state of fraud and corruption (with no Constitutional Rule of Law) worth the lives of our young? If not, what are we going to do about it?

CORRUPTION NUMBER ONE:

Anyone who watches the news has heard about the rape charges filed against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rumored to be the French Socialist Party's favorite to replace Nicolas Sarkozy as President of France. Beyond the sensationalist rape charges, however, are you aware of why this is an important story?

Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK, as he is called by the mainstream media) should be better known for ulterior motives involving the globalization of American, European and Japanese banks – but thanks to our well-paid-under-the-table media, he is not known for that.

DSK was born 25 April 1949 and on 28 September 2007 became Managing Director of the IMF. He resigned on 18 May 2011 after the rape allegation was made.
On 14 May 2011, shortly after noon, a hotel maid in her early 30s says she entered Strauss-Kahn's Sofitel Hotel suite In New York City to clean it and that DSK came out of his bathroom naked, ran after her, and attempted to forcibly have intercourse with her. Other forced sex acts not involving intercourse occurred and DSK was arrested, then released on a $1 million bail plus a $5 million bond guaranteeing he not leave the State of New York. He now resides in an apartment where he remains, under guard.

The Rest of the Story:

Under the aegis of the IMF, Strauss-Kahn made known as early as December 2009 his new international currency plans to use a "Green Energy Fund" (most Tea Party members recognize this as code for the United Nation's Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development) to fight climate change in low-income nations around the world. The funding for "Green Energy" would come from the IMF's own printable money – special drawing rights - starting at the equivalent of $ 100 billion. You heard me right. The IMF wanted to print its own money to fund "Green Energy." There's something green here and it's called IMF envy of American currency.

Strauss-Kahn said an expanded role for special drawing rights (which enabled the IMF to print its own currency) could help stabilize the international monetary system. Sure it could! To shorten a long story, this was a Soros-friendly socialist method of destroying the U.S. dollar, a topic discussed at Bretton Woods II which was sponsored by George Soros the first week of May 2011. The IMF action was part of "the China plan" to replace the U.S. dollar with a "basket of currencies" and to absorb the Federal Reserve into the IMF (as I reported in an article a month ago).

Between 2009 and the current time, several IMF plans were presented to replace the dollar as the international currency of trade – which, in turn, would send the U.S. economy over the edge of a cliff. It hovers there daily (some days I think it's beyond recovery).

There are a lot of questions to be answered about this "story." Why did DSK go to New York instead of flying directly to Berlin from Washington where he was scheduled to meet with Chancellor Merkel of Germany? Was he perhaps in New York meeting with the Too Big to Jail Banksters he so graciously assisted with unlawful and otherwise fraudulent acts?

Why did Strauss-Kahn leave his cell phone in his hotel room – a resource any investigator would find of great interest. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman currently has a Grand Jury investigating Wall Street irregularities. Why did the maid enter an occupied room to clean it – especially when it was known the occupant would be checking out that day? Considering his wealth, why was Strauss-Kahn imprisoned at Riker's Island? Why wasn't he held at the local police precinct jail until arraignment the morning after his arrest? Very strange!

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was very involved with Hank Paulson, former Secretary of the Treasury when the Too Big to Jail Banks failed. He wanted to dissolve the U.S. dollar and he wanted a global currency controlled by the IMF. And there is no doubt that Strauss-Kahn is a major player in trying to bring down the U.S. dollar. He's up to his armpits in a plan designed to absorb the Federal Reserve System and the central banks of Europe and Japan into the International Monetary Fund. This has been obvious since politicians around the world began supporting compatible international banking regulations. As I have said many times, once a world economy is established, creating world government is child's play.

So, perhaps the most interesting question to ask is: Was Strauss-Kahn led into his merry adventure by those trying to save the United States – or by those who are trying to destroy it? Or, does this just exemplify the dwindling sexual prowess of an aging man who confuses power of job with individual power? Is this an "I did it because I could" power story gone awry?

The plan has failed – this time. They'll be back. But eventually someone is going to be held accountable. I also said, long ago, that George Soros moved too fast with his socialist agenda after the 2007 derivatives/real estate bubble burst at Lehman Brothers. Soros was raised in communist Hungary under the old Soviet system. Perhaps that makes it make it difficult for him to evaluate the impact Americans have when they've had enough political corruption, do things like start Tea Party groups, and set about changing things – including who represents them.

Perhaps Mr. Soros will eventually need to answer to those who provided his original funding to de-stabilize America's economy.

MORE CORRUPTION… and it is huge.

Everyone shakes their head about the lack of Wall Street prosecutions when so much evidence exists as to the unlawful conduct of so many people. Well, a 650-page report has just been released by a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations.

Senator Levin has requested federal prosecutors to review the possibility of bringing perjury charges against Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, along with present and former employees who gave Congressional testimony last year. Hopefully, Levin will be more successful than his past history evidences in getting more than a slap on the wrist for Wall Street Investment Banksters.

In the old days, we had prime bank guarantees which had maturities of ten years plus one or 20 years plus one and paid 7.5 percent interest annually. All of the yields were based on credit card interest rates which were, generally, 18 percent. Investors bought prime bank guarantees and they, the investors, earned 7.5 percent. The bank made money by selling the credit card debt to investors and, in the process, reduced its potential for loan losses. CDOs – or collateralized debt obligations – replaced prime bank guarantees. Today CDOs may contain high yield bonds or credit card loans, aircraft loans, car loans – yes, even mortgage loans. Investment banks buy different types of loans from financial institutions at a discounted rate and mold them together, layer upon layer (tranches), into CDOs.

Why do you need to know this?

Because this is core of the problem. It is the venue used to try and bankrupt your country – and, concurrently, to turn you, the American taxpayer, into a slave for a handful of elitists. If you're going to be – had – I hope you want to know by whom and why.

It gets back to the need to stop letting issues divert you and solve the problems that enable and allow the issues in the first place. What we are discussing here is problems, not issues.

A year ago, Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein denied under oath that his company had taken "short" positions against the housing market – you remember mortgage-backed derivatives that drove our real estate values into the tank? He testified: "Much has been said about the supposedly massive short Goldman Sachs had on the U.S. housing market.

The fact is, we were not consistently or significantly net 'short the market' in residential mortgage-related products in 2007 and 2008. We didn't have a massive short against the housing market and we certainly did not bet against our clients."

I see what Senators Coburn and Levin mean by "perjury."

Here we go with another term the average person doesn't understand. "Shorts." No. It's not something clean a man puts on after a shower; not in the world of investment banking.

When one invests in "shorts," one bets something is going to take a loss. If I think the price of silver is going to drop, I'll buy silver shorts – like Bear Stearns did, for example. Only silver didn't go down, it went up, up, up. When Bear Stearns failed and was purchased, the silver shorts were inherited by J.P. Morgan Chase. JPMC was facing a multi-billion dollar loss until about two weeks ago – and, like magic, silver began dropping in value. Now there's something to look into, Senator Levin.

A point needs to be made here because it references information I have presented to you before and which can now be clearly seen to have been not only important, but critical.

Well over a year ago, I wrote a series of three articles about Ambassador Lee Emil Wanta. In that series, I referenced the offers he made to the Bush Administration to purchase Lehman Brothers and, later, Bear Stearns.

As you may recall, Lehman Brothers had become one of the largest financers of mortgage loans in the nation when, a year or so earlier, it owned mortgage companies that wrote over $100 billion in sub-prime and liar loan mortgages. That way, the company could package worthless derivatives and sell them worldwide. It was one method Lehman Brothers used to save its neck from the financial chopping block. It needed a huge number of mortgages to put into derivatives so they could be sold and Lehman Brothers could financially survive another day. This was a major portion of the derivative base, sold internationally, that went sour and sent real estate values down the tubes globally. The United States real estate market isn't on its way to recovery even yet as a result of this unlawful activity.

Had President George W. Bush given Wanta access to his own funds – funds the Court had decided were his and that were being unlawfully withheld from him by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department – he could have, as he offered to do, bought Lehman Brothers. An audit would have been required. The audit would have identified the problem – and that is damning evidence of a cover-up at the highest levels, not just on Wall Street but in Washington, D.C. That audit could have saved all of us years of economic deprivation.

The same is true of Bear Stearns. Ambassador Wanta offered to buy that company – all he needed was access to his own money. It was, however, being otherwise used… perhaps hypothecated and invested by the investment banks and government agencies that hold it in accounts in his name. Again, the audit he would have required would have identified the silver shorts problem… but when you're involved up to your neck in something unlawful, you can't let someone find the problem.

Lee Wanta offered to buy these companies in writing… I have a copy of the offer. He was ignored. (I also have a copy of his offer to buy Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae who are still bleeding us dry!)

But back to my story about Goldman Sachs…

In essence, Goldman Sachs bought loans from financial institutions, put them into CDO investment products, made sales commissions selling them -- and shorted the investment. In other words, Goldman Sachs bet against the success of its own product -- but that didn't keep them from selling it to everyone else.

In one product called "Timberwolf," Goldman Sachs invested 36 percent in shorts on a billion dollars, part of this CDO's assets. Over one-third of the company's investment in its own product was that it would fail. And Blankfein said they had no remarkable "short" position in the real estate market? They not only had a significant short position, they shorted their own product! Perjury, indeed!

Goldman Sachs made $330 million on the shorts at, according to the Senate report, "the direct expense of the clients to whom Goldman had sold the Timberwolf securities."

Bear Stearns was failing and Goldman Sachs agreed to buy back $300 million of the Bear Stearns investment in Timberwolf – but at 96 cents on the dollar. It was a loss at a time the Bear couldn't afford one.

There is no doubt it takes time to tear down the rot that appears synonymous with "Wall Street" today.

I know this article is hard for most people to read. It's difficult to learn new terminology so you can follow what's happening – and it's hard to write about complex financial issues in limited space.

Is it important for you to know these things? As I say in my Introduction to my new book, Flight of the Black Swan, it's only important if you don't want your children and grandchildren to be slaves to the criminal elites of the world.

These are only two incidents of many that occurred this past week.

The question I asked in Paragraph #4: Is this a nation for which young people should be sent to die on foreign soil so our politicians can engage in nation building and investors can prosper in black gold – oil? The poppy (opium) crop was bringing Afghanistan $8 billion a year when we began opposing the Taliban in that nation. According to reports, it now brings in $93 billion a year.

You have your answer to the question. I have mine. And that's the way it should be.

________________________________________
Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Finance and Business, and Who's Who in the World.

About Me

Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. Barnewall taught private banking at Colorado University and has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction and one biography.
Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and has written editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, etc. She has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America (2005-10), Who's Who of American Women (2006-10), Who's Who in Finance and Business (2006-10), and Who's Who in the World (2008).